Punctuation

Punctuation Explanation Example

N
Mark
1 At the end of a declarative Today, I took a walk to nowhere.
sentence
2 At the end of a command or Here’s a cloth. Now gently burp the baby on
request. your shoulder.
At the end of an indirect Jane asked if I knew where she had left her keys.
3 question.
Periods
Before a decimal number. Statisticians claim that the average family raises
4 (.)
2.5 children.
Between dollars and cents. I remember when $1.50 could buy the coolest
5
stuff.
After an initial in a person’s You are Sir James W. Dewault, are you not?
6
name.
7 After an abbreviation. On Jan. 12, I leave for Africa.
A pause in someone’s speech I’m not sure… maybe I’ll wait until later.
or thoughts
To build tension A hollow scream pierced the silence…
Ellipsis To show that a sentence is not “Help, I think I’m going to …”
finished
…
A pause in speech “The sight was awesome… truly amazing.”
At end of a sentence to create Mr Daily gritted his teeth, gripped the
suspense scalpel tightly in his right hand and slowly
advanced…
hyphen Hyphens connect two or more close-up; an ultra-huge sandwich.
words which make up a
- compound noun or adjective.
1 Question At the end of a question. Why do you look so sad?
Mark Inside a quotation mark when the She asked, “Why do you look so sad?”
2
? quote is a question.
At the end of a word, phrase, or Hurry up! I cannot be late for the meeting!
1 Exclamation
sentence filled with emotion.
Point
Inside a quotation mark when the The woman yelled, “Hurry up! I cannot be late
2 !
quote is an exclamation. for the meeting!”
When directly quoting dialogue, Hamlet says, “To be, or not to be. That is the
1
Quotation not when paraphrasing. question.”
Marks For titles of chapters, articles, My favorite poem is “The Road Not Taken.”
2 “ ” short stories, poems, songs, or
periodicals.
used to enclose optional or "George Washington (the father of his country)
additional material in a sentence was not the wooden figure with wooden teeth
Parentheses (
that could be removed without that many think him."
)
destroying the meaning of the
main text.
Semi-colon Between two independent Edward joined the basketball team; remarkably,
1
; clauses the 5´4˝ young man excelled at the sport.

1
 Between elements in a series that The possible dates for the potluck dinner are
2 uses commas. Thursday, June 5; Saturday, June 7; or
Monday, June 9.
Between two complete ideas Keri pushed her dinner away: She had eaten on
1
when the second idea explains the car ride home.
the first.
Before a list. Grandma brought Chloe’s favorite three sweets:
2
chocolate kisses, Tootsie Rolls, and a Snickers
Colons
bar.
:
3 Between titles and subtitles. Finding Your Dream Home: A Buyer’s Guide.
Between volumes and page Marvel Comics 21:24
4
numbers.
5 Between chapters and verse. Job 4:12
6 Between hours and minutes. It’s 2:00 a.m.—time to sleep.
Where letters or numbers have I looked at my father and whispered, “It’s (It is)
1 been deleted—as in a okay to cry every so often.”
Apostrophe
contraction.
..’…
At the end of a name where Mary Jane’s horse sprained his ankle during
2
there is ownership practice.
A dash is not the same as a Two of the strongest animals in the jungle—the
hyphen. The dash, or a pair of elephant and gorilla—are vegetarians.
dashes, lets you interrupt a
sentence to add emphasis with Two of the strongest animals in the jungle are
Dashes additional information. Use vegetarians—the elephant and gorilla.
1
—….— dashes lightly or you risk creating
a breathless, overly informal
style. Use a dash to emphasize an
example, a definition, or a
contrast.
in a series of three or more Jim swims, golfs, and fishes in the summer.
1
entities
to separate two main clauses Harold took the day off, and he is planning on
2
joined by and, but, for, nor, yet, resting.
or, so
between city and state and after Before moving to Denver, Colorado, the
3 state if in the middle of a Chapmans lived in Buffalo, New York.
sentence
with dates between day and year We will graduate on June 6, 1990. It wasn't until
4 and after year in the middle of a March 15, 1987, that Harvey got his license.
Commas sentence
after introductory expressions If it does not rain this weekend, we can go to
beginning with because, since, the beach. Because of the traffic jam, we arrived
5
while, until, if, despite, in spite of, an hour late.
etc:
before not and but to show I have come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
6
contrast
before or after a direct address Have you finished your project, Sam?
7
(calling someone by name) Nell, are you ready yet?
with appositives [words or George Washington, our first president, was
8
phrases that mean the same as unanimously elected in 1789.

2
 the word(s) that come before
them]
to set off titles such as M.A., Colin B. Thornton, Jr., not his father, is president
9 Ph.D., Sr., Jr., Inc of the bank. Joyce Byrd, Ph.D., is Director of the
English language Institute
1 to set off participial phrases Hurrying as fast as he could, Marcel caught the
0 bus before it pulled away.
1 Use to set off direct quotations Pam said, "My cousin is studying engineering
1 at MIT."
with addresses written in Send all inquiries to National Business
1
sentence form Computers, 1576 Magnolia Dr., East Lansing,
2
Michigan 12450.
to set off “yes and no” in No, we are not planning on going to the
1 answering a question mountains this spring.
3 Yes, I received your request for the
merchandise.